November 7, 2011

The last of the DLC is now released, completing all the original Left 4 Dead campaigns. No Mercy, Crash Course, Death Toll, Dead Air, Blood Harvest… they’re all in. We’re not going to be getting Last Stand, but it’s on http://www.l4dmaps.com anyway. It remains to be seen if Valve is still considering them beta status, although Cold Stream most likely still is. Also, when they released Death Toll it also restored Zoey’s original animations, so if you use a custom Zoey model you most likely need to update or replace it. On the L4D maps web site the Simplistic and Motley Crue Zoey models by Mizta Egg are updated to animate correctly. Bikini and Nude Zoey models have been abandoned, however, the “Teen Angst” alternative one (including the original versions from Arby 26) will animate correctly.

September 16, 2011

Updates to Left 4 Dead 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include: Death Toll campaign released. We are releasing the beta version of Death Toll today. We have made a few changes based on issues we saw during internal testing. It will be interesting to see what people think of those changes. No hints on what the changes are, we want you to play with fresh eyes. Please post all feedback and bugs to the L4D2 Steam Forums.

August 5, 2011

Today’s Left 4 Dead 2 update contains a new version of the Terminal Map For Dead Air. With this change, we are getting pretty close to being complete on this campaign. We have a few more known bugs to fix – but it is close. At this stage what we really need is more testing.

To encourage testing, we created a new achievement: Connecting Fights. You earn it by playing a complete game of Versus in Dead Air. Do that and we have another prize. When 60,000 people earn this achievement, we will unlock the beta version of Blood Harvest on Steam the next weekday.

60,000 is going to be hard. You can’t rage quit and you need to work together. Once you get the achievement, help others get it as well. As always, please post feedback and bugs for the campaign on the Steam Forums and Facebook.

July 22, 2011

Thanks to your hard work a few weeks ago, we are releasing a beta version of Dead Air for Left 4 Dead 2 today. This will be available on the Xbox 360 later this summer as part of the full Cold Stream DLC.

Besides adding melee weapons, we have made some changes to the 4th and 5th maps of the campaign. Give them a few play throughs and let us know what you think. Make sure to try some different strategies – especially in the finale.

We have also tried something new with the Scavenge map in this campaign. I won’t give away the experiment here but it should be interesting to see how people choose to play the map.

Cold Stream and the rest of the Left 4 Dead 1 maps will be out later this summer as part of the Cold Stream DLC.

If you have a problem with a spawn room, vote to restart that chapter.

Everyone needs to be by the radio headset to start the finale map.

There are bugs, this is a work in progress. Please read the blog for more information

Today we are releasing the beta version of Cold Stream. Since we announced it, Matthew has been hard at work on the map and the initial release looks a little more polished than you may have expected.

The reason for that is the difference between how we work on a campaign compared to modders. When we work on a campaign, we normally work in a rougher state without textures for a long period. Level design artists come in later and give the game its finished look with textures.

Modders often texture early as they have to create the structures based on the available artwork. They don’t have a team of artists coming in after them. So don’t let the level of texturing fool you. The campaign is still in flux.

We have activated the in-game bug reporter for L4D2. You can currently submit bugs on Valve maps including Cold Stream. This system will eventually be extended to work with community campaigns.

So how can you help and give feedback on Cold Stream?

If you see a bug report it. There are sure to be nav-mesh bugs, navigational issues, hit box problems, missing zombie ladders, art problems, etc. Remember it’s a beta.

For suggestions and feedback, first play the campaign and then post in the Cold Stream forum. The finale is one place in particular that we think is going to change pretty massively but please post all your feedback.

If you want to follow the development on Cold Stream, make sure to subscribe to our Twitter account.

Reminders:

The beta is for PC/Mac only. The 360 version will be included in the full DLC.

Cold Stream is part of an upcoming DLC for L4D2. No release date or pricing has been announced.

Cold Stream does not replace featured campaigns, they will resume next month.

Campaign Release Notes:
If you have a problem with a spawn room, vote to restart that chapter.
Everyone needs to be by the radio headset to start the finale map.
There are bugs, this is a work in progress.

February 17, 2011

Sorry for the recent lack of updates, we have been working on a surprise and here it is.

Matthew Lourdelet (2 Evil Eyes) has been working on a new community campaign – Cold Stream. We loved 2 Evil Eyes and Cold Stream looks even more promising with innovative game play arenas and effects. Matthew has really shown that there are still plenty of new ideas in L4D2 modding.

He recently shared it with us and we love it so far but it isn’t done. We were tempted to have him quietly finish it with our help and release it as part of an upcoming DLC.

Tempted… but we decided against that. Instead, we think we have a better idea. We want you the community to be part of the process of taking his unfinished campaign and releasing it as DLC on the Xbox 360, PC and Mac.

Since Matthew already has a start on the campaign, we need to back up a little in the process before we go forward.

The very first step in creating a new DLC is deciding on the larger goals and constraints for the DLC. The Sacrifice and the Passing were story heavy, so we want to see what the other end of the spectrum looks like. For this DLC we start with wanting to experiment by releasing a map pack that wasn’t about story. It would just be new campaigns for Left 4 Dead 2.

That makes the first constraint no new audio or story.

The easiest starting point for new campaigns is the three remaining Left 4 Dead 1 campaigns, so the DLC will include those. We also want something brand new and Cold Stream is the perfect fit.

That’s the start of the DLC. We have the basic information but we don’t even have a name or release date yet.

We will hold off on the name for now.

That leaves the release date. The answer to when the DLC will be released is simple for now, sometime after Portal 2. Why don’t we set some date in stone right now? Because the real answer to when we are going to release something is always – when it’s ready.

Quality is a function of time and resources. So we can throw more people at the problem and/or take longer. We like to not constrain ourselves by either, so at this point we are willing to say – “Let’s not set a date yet, we’ll know better later.” Of course, that is also why the concept of Valve Time exists but later you will see why “Valve Time” is a good thing, not a bad thing.

For now, that’s it.

In the next few weeks we will add Cold Stream to the UI (user interface) and we will all begin testing it. As we receive feedback and test data we will also share some data we collect on player experience and show how we put that data to use. We will include you with regular posts, polls, and updates.

We have created a special forum just for feedback on the campaign and this project (Cold Stream Forum). While the beta will only be available for PC and Mac users, we appreciate feedback and ideas from the entire community. This is an experiment for us, so please let us know what you think and what you would like to see in the DLC – just remember the constraints.